We would like to share with you today the heartfelt words of thanks and touching stories from families who have benefited from the generous support of the Lehnhardt Foundation. These voices not only reflect the profound impact of the Foundation but also testify to the meaningful changes it has brought to people’s lives.
EURO-CIU NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2023
Lehnhardt Foundation with Online Counselling Centre for Russian-speaking immigrant families
Since February 2022 Liubov Wolowik (member of the board of the Lehnhardt Foundation) has been offering support for parents with children wearing a CI or adult CI-recipients from all over Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and Poland. The communication takes place via phone, WhatsApp, by email or in Zoom meetings.
Our main activities include:
Here are three examples from many more:
Volunteers are welcome!
Currently the support is organized by only one person. Number of requests in 18 months: over 250 (10-15 per month).
Do you speak English/German and Russian? We look forward to your support! Please click here to email.
Liubov Wolowik
Kinder, Jugendliche und Erwachsene aus der Ukraine haben Ersatzteile für Sprachprozessoren (Kabel, Spulen, Batterien, Akkus, Mikrofonfilter, Trockenboxe und Magneten usw.) und ref. Hörgeräten erhalten. Einige Ersatzteile wurden an diejenigen verschickt, die vorübergehend in Polen leben. Die Lieferung von Deutschland in die Ukraine erfolgte durch eine humanitäre Hilfsorganisation „Oranta-helps e.V.”, Versand und Verteilung dieser Spenden innerhalb des Landes wurde durch Elternorganisation “Schnecke in der Hand” organisiert.
Alle Familien sagen Dankeschön an die Lehnhardt Stiftung, großzügige Spender und die, die Lieferungen ermöglicht haben.
Dear Monika Lehnhardt, it’s Stella, I’m writing this letter to convey to you my gratitude. I’m really happy to have this chance, this greatest opportunity, honestly I had given up hope by then, but yeah nothing is impossible in this world.
I went to Gayane for a hearing aid fitting yesterday, here is the photo ( my mom took it).
Everything is pretty good, I know all the functions of this model, and I watched a video about how to connect it to my phone, it works great. There are such sayings : “There are no coincidences in this world” and “Nothing happens for no reason”, many people many relatives think it’s a tragedy I lost my hearing ability, but you know I guess it’s great, I don’t know why, I just feel so, I’m not unhappy about it, of course sometimes it’s uncomfortable, “deafness separate people from people” it’s a fact, but I’m still glad . I’m also studying sign language. I want to be closer to the world of the deaf, to understand people who have no opportunity to hear, who communicate in sign language, to help them in the future. This is one of my life goals. So yeah, I’m really thankful, you are a great person, helping people is one of the hardest work, I sincerely wish you all the best that can happen to you
Publikation in EURO-CIU June 2023
Mothers with children or whole families leave their home country for very different reasons. Some simply because they hope for a better life, some because they are fleeing reprisals or even war. What they all have in common is a more-or-less long phase of feeling foreign in the new country.
A lack of knowledge of the language of the new “home country” makes integration difficult.
Ignorance of the local conditions and the responsible institutions for support have a particularly negative effect when help is required for children with hearing impairments or even children with multiple disabilities.
For a year now we have been seeing more and more such families in Germany, but also in Austria, Poland and Switzerland. They come from Moldova, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and especially from Ukraine.
Das 28. Friedberger Symposium mit dem Thema “CI ohne Grenzen – Status und Potential der CI-Versorgung” bot eine ausgewogene Mischung aus chirurgischen, audiometrischen, rehabilitativen Themen sowie Erfahrungsberichten. Besonders hervorzuheben ist der Vortrag von Dr.Monika Lehnhardt über die dreißigjährige Geschichte der Stiftung, der Einblicke in die Entwicklung und Leistungen der Organisation gab. Im Anschluss hatten die Stiftungsmitglieder die Gelegenheit, verschiedene Projekte während der Stiftungssitzung zu besprechen.
Die Idee eine Stiftung zu gründen, reifte vor genau 30 Jahren, kurz bevor Prof. Dr. Ernst Lehnhardt emeritierte. Im Jahr unserer gemeinsamen Gründung 1994 blickte er auf 10 Jahre zurück, da er die ersten Erwachsenen an der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover mit einem Cochlea Implantat versorgte. Von Anfang an war seine Vision, dass Frühförderung und die post-operative Nachsorge die ausschlaggebenden Faktoren für den Erfolg einer Cochlear Implantation sind. Dementsprechend definierten wir den Stiftungszweck: „Die Förderung der Früherkennung, Früherfassung und Nachsorge einer möglichen Hörstörung bei Kindern“.
Im Rahmen des Förderprogramms „Klinikpartnerschaften – Partner stärken Gesundheit“ von GIZ begann im August 2020 das Projekt „CI und Langzeitversorgung von tauben Kindern”, das von der Lehnhardt Stiftung betreut wird und eine strukturierte Weiterbildung auf dem
Gebiet Cochlea Implantat Versorgung in Kirgistan ermöglicht. Die Lehnhardt Stiftung und das KMG Klinikum Güstrow haben zwei HNO-Ärzte für eine Woche zur Hospitation in das Klinikum eingeladen. Dr. Cholpon Beisheeva (Chefin der HNO-Abteilung) und Dr. Munar Beishenova (HNO-Ärztin) sind im “National Center of Maternity and Childhood Care” in Bishkek, Kirgisistan, tätig.
Die Hospitation war kurz, aber sehr professionell von Prof. Dr.med. Tino Just und Dr. Blanda Kamin gestaltet. Die Woche hat mit einem Rundgang durch die Klinik begonnen: Besichtigung der Intensivstation, Notaufnahme, HNO-Abteilung, Sterilisationsabteilung, Operationsblock mit Aufwachraum. In diesen Tagen fanden informative Gespräche mit dem Pädiater, der für das Neugeborenen- Hörscreening zuständig ist, mit dem Chef der Radiologie-Abteilung und einer Audiologin statt.
Erklärt wurde das NHS-Protokoll der Klinik, die notwendige Dokumentation, das Patienten Tracking, inkl. derjenigen, die nicht im Krankenhaus geboren wurden. Munar und Cholpon durften bei der Erstanpassung nach der CI Operation bei einem Erwachsenen anwesend sein und Fragen stellen.
In dieser Woche konnten die Hospitierenden bei Operationen, wie Cochlear Implantation oder Tympanoplastik, zuschauen und selbstständig im Labor mit künstlichem Felsenbein arbeiten. Um
eine CI-Operation durchzuführen, muss man ca.100 Felsenbeine präpariert haben.
“When the plane slowly approached Vienna, I couldn’t believe it,” says Anastasiia with bright eyes and full of expectations. It is the first trip out of the country for the 27-year-old therapist. She has an invitation from the Lehnhardt Foundation for an internship for a week and she has many questions in her luggage.
How is the treatment of hearing impaired and deaf children organized in Europe, specifically in Austria? Is there a nationwide neonatal hearing screening? What about early intervention? Are hearing impaired children entitled to get a hearing aid or maybe even two? When they are diagnosed as deaf, do they get a cochlear implant or even two? What about post-operative care, technical support and rehabilitation? Who pays for all this?
In her home country, the situation for hearing-impaired children is by no means satisfactory. In most cases, hearing impairment is recognized far too late. It is the parents who often only notice with irritation after two or three years that their child does not react to acoustic stimuli and does not start to speak. They are then often put off by paediatricians, they have to be patient, it will all work out.
The neonatal hearing screening has been in the pilot phase for a year through a project of the Lehnhardt Foundation with GIZ and also through an initiative of UNICEF.
Neither the government nor insurance companies pay for hearing aids, cochlear implants or rehabilitation. The result are long waiting lists for donors like the Ministry for Religious Affairs from Qatar, the German organization “Ein herz für Kinder”, the Turkish TIKA project and some private sponsors.
Anastasiia learnt that Neonatal Hearing Screening has been mandatory in Austria for decades.
At the University Clinic in St. Pölten she could familiarize herself with the organization of the CI program by a multidisciplinary team: criteria for patient selection (including single sided deafness), freedom for parents to select the CI from one of the three current manufacturers, 6 – 7 fitting sessions during the first two post-operative years and rehabilitation including music therapy.
In Vienna, Anastasiia spent a day with Ulrike Rülicke, a very experienced audio therapist who applies the natural auditory oral approach working with children and adults. Her institution is called “dazugehören” – which translates into “to belong” but the German word includes “hören” and has a semantic meaning. Ulrike´s focus is on counselling parents, supporting them to understand what is essential for the development of their child at a given time and to foster interaction. She very rarely uses the word “no” and emphasizes that “Language only arises when I exchange information and enter into a dialogue.”
In Vienna, Anastasiia also visited VOX (Center for hearing impaired) and ÖCIG (Austrian Cochlear Implant Society).
VOX offers technical support for hearing aids and cochlear implants, counselling people for situations in daily life, in their job or during their studies. They cooperate with therapists, clinics and other organisations. One of their aims is to change the legal situation and to introduce stationary rehabilitation following the German example, where CI recipients can spend 12 weeks in a specialized CI rehabilitation centre paid for by the insurance companies.
ÖCIG has been in existence for 30 years, members counsel children and adults, help to prepare documents for insurance companies and recently focus on two projects: “Listen up!” (a campaign to increase awareness for hearing impairment) and “Easy Rehabilitation” (development of a concept for stationary rehabilitation).
On her last day in Vienna, Anastasiia met Dr. Monika Lehnhardt-Goriany and her husband Michael.
One of the main topics was Telemedicine, internal documentation and work structure.
The internship helped Anastasiia to get new ideas, to better understand the organisation of post-operative rehabilitation and the cooperation between therapists and clinics.
“I now look at my work from a different angle and I want to apply and adapt many techniques to local circumstances in Kyrgyzstan, understanding the purpose of new and old tasks.” says Anastasiia before she has to leave.
GIZ invited the Lehnhardt foundation to participate at an international Conference in Berlin “1st Internationale Konferenz der Klinikpartnerschaften – Resilience & Solidarity in Times of Crisis, 14. bis 15.Oktober 2022”. The focus lies on the question, how hospital partnerships can maintain resilience and solidarity in times of unprecedented challenges. In professional groups, the participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas on different topics and form new relationships – individually and organizationally. –> More
.
The Lehnhardt Foundation: Dr.Monika Lehnhardt, Peter Zoth and the medical center AURORA (Kiew, Ukraine): Viatcheslav Fedoruk
Attached you can find two posters as pdf:
– Lukas Klinik (Altenburg, Germany) & Sheptytsky Hospital (Lviv, Ukraine)
– LEHNHARDT FOUNDATION & MEDICAL HEARING REHABILITATION CENTER AURORA
Publikation in EURO-CIU June 2022
Im Rahmen des Förderprogramms „Cochlea-Implantation und langfristige Unterstützung für gehörlose Kinder“, das die Lehnhardt-Stiftung von der GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) erhalten hat, kamen Anastasia Naimanova und Larisa Kovaleva zu einem Studienaufenthalt in eines der größten Rehabilitationszentren Deutschlands. Hier sind ihre Eindrücke:
Yvonne Seebens, Gunther Haschker and the whole team welcomed us warmly and organized intensive and highly interesting 12 days of training.
We were introduced to the structure of CIC and received valuable information about documentation management, which is the basis of the centre’s interaction with patients and parents and also with other centres and clinics.
Individual and / or group sessions are planned for every child including ENT doctors´ examination, hearing tests, technical inspection and fitting of speech processors, as well as consultation for parents. We attended individual and group classes, music lessons and lessons for the development of psychomotoric skills.
In order to improve our pedagogical skills and deepen our theoretical knowledge, gained during the first week, we were offered to conduct classes with a boy from a Russian-speaking family, followed by a video analysis which was very beneficial.
Working with parents is the focus of CIC. Questionnaires are filled in, to reflect the dynamics of the child´s development and the parents´ expectations. They come several times a year and benefit from communicating with each other, exchanging experience and thus supporting each other.
We have familiarized ourselves with the Marte Meo method which is focused on strengthening the child-parent relations and developing parental skills within the framework of correctional assistance to the child. Marte Meo means “with my own power”. The founder of this method – Maria Aarts – is convinced that any parent has a significant positive potential for the development of their child, but not everyone can analyse their interaction with the child from outside. Videos allow one to analyse the interaction between adult and child, identify positive aspects and improve them.
We learnt about the concepts of Natural-Oral Method, Auditory Verbal Therapy, and “Theory of Mind”. We met with representatives of the parents´ association “Little Listeners” and we were inspired by their vital activity and mutual assistance.
We visited a school for hard of hearing children and learnt about “Early Support Programmes”
Representatives of the companies Cochlear and MED-EL presented to us their new products and their benefits for CI recipients. They wanted to hear from us which difficulties CI recipients are facing in our country and whether a governmental CI program will be established in Kyrgyzstan in the near future.
Full trust and cooperation are the basis of all work done in CIC. All members are open to dialogue and ready to discuss various methods to improve the quality of education for deaf and hard of hearing children.
The main achievement and success of our trip is the acquisition and expansion of our theoretical base and pedagogical self-confidence.
The message we take home with us is the necessity to:
We are determined to work on this and make it happen!
Anastasia Naimanova und Larisa Kovaleva
